Teacher Lets Fifth Graders Drink Non-Alcoholic Beer in Class

Some parents are saying a teacher at Hyatt Elementary School in Linden, Michigan may have taken "method teaching" a step too far by giving a class of fifth graders non-alcoholic beer as part of a history lesson.

ABC-12 reports that a teacher allowed students to sample O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer to give students an idea of what their future tasted like the ale people drank in the 1700s (due to the shortage of clean water) tasted like. The beer was brought in by a student, but the teacher still let it fly, a move that district superintendent Ed Koledo says was an "inappropriate choice."

The incident took place March 6.

Providing a minor with non-alcoholic beer could warrant misdemeanor charges, since O'Doul's actually contains a small amount of alcohol (.05%). No one has been charged as of yet, but when a story makes as much noise as this one has already something will happen to someone. Our money is on the teacher.

While much of the chatter has been in the vein of "who cares," I have to disagree. This was a poor decision made by an individual you are supposed to be able to trust with your children. Letting the students taste beer (alcoholic or not) serves no educational purpose whatsoever. Would the teacher let the children smoke opium-flavored e-cigs when they start studying 17th century China? Probably not, because it doesn't serve an educational purpose.